OUTDOORS ▶Spring makes its presence felt at the Greenport Conservation Area.

I’ll lose the church when the spring comes.

There’s a lot of things you don’t envision when buying a house. Like that on the first day of school, your neighbor would place a table filled with notebooks, pens and pencils on her sidewalk for kids who might not have those things. Or that another neighbor who hears about your daughter’s school not having enough laptops would give you a Chromebook.

Until the first winter in our house, I didn’t know that when the leaves left the backyard apple tree I’d have a view of the beautiful, stone Episcopal church on the next street. Or that since the church was west of us, on early mornings, I’d watch the first pink rays of a new day steadily climb those stones — a small, surprise gift from the universe and winter.

Winter is the time for skiing and quiet contemplation. But mostly skiing. Spring is the time for planning and change.

Last weekend, my wife, Gillian, my daughter, who we call Little Wren (despite the fact that she’s over five feet tall) and our dog, Rocky, prepped for a trip to the Greenport Conservation Area near Hudson. Gillian and Little Wren adorned Rocky in a shamrocked bandana in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

On the drive to the trailhead, Gillian realized she’d forgotten a fork, spoon or any civilized utensil for eating the coleslaw she’d brought for lunch. She ate it using a compass — it’s nice that your spouse can still surprise you. I guess it’s also why a compass is one of hiking’s 10 essentials.

Greenport, in addition to fitting perfectly into our St. Patrick’s Day theme, fit other plans as well. The area is part of the Columbia Land Conservancy. Gillian wrote about the CLC’S beautiful Hand Hollow Preserve in East Chatham last year.

There are multiple access points to the Greenport Preserve,

but we entered from Joselyn Boulevard to explore the preserve’s seven miles of trails.

We did not have to wait long for the awesome. A quarter-mile of hiking brought us to an expansive grassland with milliondollar views of the northern Catskills across the Hudson River. We walked on the margins of winter. The Catskill peaks were coated in snow against a stark blue sky, but we had a warm spring-like sunshine on our faces.

A hard-packed trail, suitable for strollers or wheelchairs, splits the preserve and gives access to several benches for possible picnic spots. From the main, hard-packed trail, there are several miles of woodsier dirt trails.

The yellow trail that ventures into the southern end of the preserve called to us. We expected to notice different trees or possibly some early spring wildflowers as we descended toward the river, but instead, we noticed the ground we walked was different. The few muddy spots on the trail had mud that was extra clingy.

It made sense when we got to

the river. The ground nearby was clay and the site had been the spot of a long-ago brick factory. Small piles of “Atlas” bricks lay on the trail like the ruins of Ozymandias. Nothing beside remains.

The Hudson River Duck Chorus greeted us at the wetland at the end of the yellow trail. We watched mergansers dive and black ducks do whatever it is black ducks do when they’re not quacking their heads off. We were able to catch a close-up look at the Amtrak train running by the river and for the first time in a few months, took a long, leisurely break in relative warmth.

FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2021 |

From the water’s edge, we could see the view spots of the preserve above and it whet our appetites to explore. We hiked back through the open grassland to the trilling of red-winged blackbirds. From a gazebo on the blue trail back on the ridge, we watched an osprey soar along the Hudson with the backdrop of the Catskills beyond.

We didn’t leave enough time to explore more of the northern preserve trails, so we took a short-cut trail back through the open fields. A fox sparrow noisily raked the underbrush of the tall grass. In a few weeks, the fox sparrow will be joined by other birds and the field will be alive with song.

We piled back into the car. Spring is the time for plans. We planned to bring our parents for a picnic. We planned to explore at least three more CLC preserves to earn a patch. And as we looked for a post-hike hot chocolate and doughnut, we made plans for warmer weather and making the switch from posthike hot chocolate to post-hike ice cream.